San Marco, Venice
The labours of the months series on the west door
The labours of the months on the great west portal are attributed to the school of Benedetto Antelami, c1200. Antelami also made the labours of the months sculptures at Parma, and worked at Fidenza (Borgo San Donnino). His style is notable for its homage to classical sources and for the expressivity of his figures - we can see in his work the same desire for realism and expression that comes through strongly in the slighter later work of the Pisani. But Antelami is the last flush of the Romanesque style, while the Pisani are forthrightly Gothic.
April carries a sheep on his back - which is appropriate considering that Aries is the right zodiac sign for the month. He's a stubby little character, with a vivid little face and definite attitude. In his right hand he grasps a branch, perhaps a flowering one as is often shown.
The treatment is very different from that given by French Gothic sculptors. These figures are designed as if they were free-standing - they aren't constrained by an architectural framework, but instead occupy their own space. Around them, the sculptor weaves foliage.
Here is August. It's just too hot for working. The chair is a lovely piece of work, with engraved lines and drill holes suggesting inlay work such as you might find in Morocco today.
Again the sculpture seems to have caught a particular emotion - you can read weariness, even despair into the lines of this pose.
Below, a hand emerges from nowhere to flourish the scales, the sign of Libra. Above, a scroll bears the name of the month.
December, and it's pig-killing time again. There's a fine sense of movement here with the animal's head pulled violently back, and the tight curve of the butcher's hunched back.
February is shown with the typical scene of the man warming himself in front of the fire. Another fine chair, if you're interested in authentic medieval furniture. He has thrown off his hood, but the texture and lack of drape in his tunic suggest he is wearing heavier material than the figures of the summer months - a nice piece of observation. It may even be a sheepskin coat, or fur. He reaches out one hand to feel the warmth of the fire, and massages his leg with the other.
Above his head two little fishes float - Pisces, the sign for the month.
January carries firewood on his shoulder. His feet seem firmly placed on
the ground, though in fact he's standing on an acanthus leaf detail. There's
a real physicality in this sculpture - he's not just a chubby, very plastic
body, but there's a feeling of effort and weight that makes the whole image
seem realistic.
Both June and July wear massive broad brimmed hats to protect themselves from the sun, and have bare arms. June cuts a sheaf of hay with a sickle, bending over; July has a scythe. Above June's shoulder you can see Cancer, the crab - as you'd expect in a maritime city, it's a rather more realistic crab than you see in most of the early French works.
Here are March and May. May is slightly unusual and shows a coronation, with two lovely women holding up the crown. In the corner below is Taurus, the bull. March is a warrior, with flaming hair, striding forward, a spear in one hand and a shield in the other - and I've not seen this image for the month anywhere else. It's full of energy and life. Above the figure's shoulder is Aries, the ram.
Now for a couple of winter months. November has another of those floppy hates, and is catching birds in the bushes. As with March, this is an unusual way of showing the month; I've not seen it anywhere else, though perhaps there are other representations in Italy. It certainly isn't one you'd see in France.
October has a steep conical hat and is digging
away - and in the top left is a little scorpion, again much more realistic
than the one at Chartres.
Let's end with September. As with the August scene there seems to be a kind of melancholy to this one - the set of the face, the posture of the body express weariness and resignation. There's a bunch of grapes in the foliage background, and the little figure, with a tight coif and neat boots, trudges towards the grape press with a huge basket of grapes.
Return to the list of images of labours of the months